Method of improving mix and drying exteriors of bottles



G. P. STOUT Feb. 17, 1948.

METHOD OF IMPROVING MIX AND DRYING EXTERIORS .OF BOTTLES Original Filed Sept. 10, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 a?! ai iii ao/zgg/ B 1? v gon/v5) G. P. STOUT 2,436,082

METHOD OF IMPROVING MIX AND DRYING/ EXTERIORS OF BOTTLES Feb. 17, 1948.

, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Sept. 10

H 4 N N R mww 0 m6 y/R .4. m 3 m s'rA'ras. PATENT orriciz METHOD OF IMPROVING i I -*1 AND DRYING EXTERIQBS OF B08 George Philip Stout, Baltimore, Md, assignor to The Coca-Cola Company, Wilmington, Del, a corporation oi Delaware Ori application September 10, 1941. Serial No. 410,315, new Patent No. 2,317,559, dated April 27, 1943. Divided and this application May 15, 1943, Serial No. 487,411 g 1 Claim. (CI. 88-44),

This application is a division of my co-pending application Serial No. 410,315, Method of detecting foreign ingredients in closed containers, filed September 10, 1941, Patent No. 2,317,559 issued April 27, 1943, and relating broadly to inspection two there as for example that permeating from the steam and water used in the soaker or soakers; results in an appreciable condensation oi water on the outside of the containers, which conditions. all of which present additional problems as to inspection. A particularly troublesome manifestation of these may be visualized when considering the fact that the rotation of the containers tends to create a sort of "rain in devices. 5 front of the photo cell'equipment. which when In my basicPatent No. 2,132,447, is taught the ss d or sc d inthis manner ia y detecting of foreign particles in bottled beverages enters upon a Ph s hi whi h there exists a tendor other containing means by passing a beam of y i30 cause false .F' t this continuing until radiant energy through the contents of such to the Optics and ass Structure are p d containers while said contents are being rapidly fr e fr m excess moisture. The foregoing P rotated, the bottles being abruptly stopped imlem is Particularly ac te in p ants using at is mediately before the inspection itself, and any k wn as e n Where l ottles interruption in said beam of light bein i k d delivered have water on their exterior surfaces, up by a photoelectric cell and amplified, the n d the extent f t problem is bvi s w en impulse thus created then being used to cause considering the feet that s y fi ty p cent a reject of the bottle containing the foreign in-= f h Smaller plants in the United States 11 8 gredlent. this type of equipment.

It has been found that in certain bottling An object of this inve tion is to p ovide a plants an inadequate mixing of the syrup with 20 method o and means l K the m1! the carbonated water of certain soft drinks ree liquid contents 0! ge cont i r th r suits in an unbalanced condition of the beverage y insuring timum i ect on results. at the time of inspection, this lack of uniformity An t er bj i to p o ide a method of a d setting up essentially the same reject conditions means for mixing the liq contents of s. within the containers as those existing when a' thereby improving their appearance and P foreign ingredient is present, and resulting in bility. bottles being thrown out which are unobjection- A still further object 18 t0 mete Possible euteable except that the mixing of their contents is atic d yin of tt es b for i sp ti the eby somewhat less than perfect. This situation uc false rejects her tofore caused y e naturally leads to considerable inconvenience and. 30 cess moistu at the Point where the bottle comes if carried to its ultimates, can result in the prachim Proximity with P fl ll q p e tical nulliflcation oi the inspection device, it be- Another ebleet 18 to i e automatic! y l ing apparent that a high speed modern bottling means for bottles. thereby eliminating excess plant cannot begi t operate h any appremoisture and facilitating the general operation ciable portion of its production line is improperly 5 the machinery involvediv t m Another object is to provide simplicity and Also, bottles tend to get a greater or lesser Y of operation in a device of the instant amount of water on their exteriors during the im bottling process, as for example. a certain amount These and other objects are made apparent of moisture adheres as the result of rinsing in to du z th fur r p re of the p esen spec the seeker during the last stage of cleaning, or ficetlen Ii111 and complete understanding 0! a certain amount of water may accrue from th the invention involved being facilitated by reiiilling process as by leaking around the seal of el'eiiee t0 the drawings herein n which the bell employed in directing carbonated water Fi i is a de e ev v o a ver e into the'bottle. Occasionally. the contents of 48 inspection evi e embodyi y i v n n; the container foam over and some of said 0021- 2 is a horizontal se tional view taken subtentsadhere to the outside. It will also be noted stimtielly along the e 01 10015118 n that as bottles come from soakers, they are quite e dire n of the arrows. warm, and a lower temperature in the bottling Fig. 8 is an enlarged fragmen ry Side V w. room, plus the presence of any abnormal mois- [0 partially in vertical cross section, taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction or the arrows; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view of 'a certain brake structure taken along the line 4-4 often achieve a frosted appearance under these It oi Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows.

essence of turret i2. and being fixedly mounted thereon.-

Said turret I2 is provided with a series of rotatable bottle-receiving cups ll (Fig. 2), to the lower portions of which are fixedly mounted pulleys 2|, contemplated to engage driving belts II and thereby cause bottles to be rotated about their vertical axes. Belts Il may be actuated by a second motor 22, idler and guide pulleys 23 serving to maintain said belts in such position that when elements 2| are brought into engagement therewith by virtue of the rotation of turret It, the bottle-receiving cup members are quickly stepped up to a desired R. P. M.

At a pre-determined interval above each bottle-receivingcup and in perpendicular alignment A turret-like therewith is a neck or top engaging element 24 r (Fig. 3), same being free to rotate with or on a shaft and held against spring tension, a camlike guide member automatically raising element 24 at the point where each bottle enters the turret, upon which said guide member becomes inop'erativeand the bottle is firmly heldiii iposition through the tension of a spring and associated elements, as is fully described in my said patent application Serial No. 410,315. Another and similar guide raises said top member as the bottle leaves the machine, thereby permitting it to continue its further pro r ss without interruption.

A conveyor 28 brings bottles to the machine, an in-feed star wheel 20 governing this operation, and an out-feed star wheel 21 serving the opposite function at the other side ofthedevice. A reject arm ll is held in inoperative position by means of solenoid 2!, spring means at pivot point 30 causing said arm to swing into the reject position shown in Pig. 2 upon said solenoids becoming de-energized, and a reject conveyor ii, in conjunction with a revolving disc 32, directs re- .iected bottles to an accumulation table. where such containers may be picked up and disposed of .as is indicated, Normally bottles proceed along infeed' conveyor 83 in their progress towards channels of trade, but in the case of a foreign particle being present in any container, diversion automatically takes place in the foregoing manner. An opticalsystem including a source of radiant energy such as bulb 34 is mounted in conjunction with turret i2 and through cam means synchronized with the clockwise movements of bottles in said turret, whereby during the inspection period both the optics and the bottle are travelling together in parallel relationship and without relative movement one to the other. Suitable lenses, suggested at 35 (Fig. 2), focus said beam of light upon a photo electric cell ll, selected impulses emanating therefrom being amplified and employed to cause a reject by tie-energizing the solenoid as at the time a bottle containing a foreign ingredient is about to leave the machine, as set forth in detail heretofore.

The amplifier 81. switch relays, and associated equipment may be housed in the lower portion 38 of supporting member II, and a suitable cover such as it, augments the appearance of the maper portion of the turret and also serves as a safety factor in enclosing moving parts contained 7 in the upper section of the turret;

Special attention is now directed to the structureenabling bottles to be initially spun very rapidly, brought to a complete stop, and then accorded a normal optimum rotation during their further progress through the inspection system, this being accomplished through belt #0 driven by motor 21 which belt operates on idler pulleys 4| in such a manner as to engage driving pulleys 20 and give the bottles an initial spin of say 1% times that of the regular spinning of such, or roughly, 2200 R. P. M. A conveniently located baffle 42 is employed to collect the water thrown oh the bottles, and an automatic brake consistin of an arm 43 pivoted as at 44 and operating against the tension of a spring 45 then serves to bring the bottles to a stop.

Upon elements 20 contacting belt 2|, bottles are again rotated, and may then either be abruptly stopped by a brake structure such as that suggested by 43-44-45, for example and brought into the optical field and inspected while the contents of the containers are still rotating;.

or inspected in keeping with the teachings of my said Patent No. 2,317,559, April 2'7, 1948; or otherwise inspected.

The method of mixing the contents of the bottles by rotating such rapidly and then abruptly stopping such rotation, serves to better mix said contents, and thus reduce false rejects; and at the'same time removes moisture from the exterior of the containers, inspection not being entirely satisfactory in the presence or excess water,-

such causing drive belts to operate poorly, reducing the effectiveness of any brake, tending to oxidize and cause excessive wear on bearing surfaces, causing the bottles to slip in the cups. making it difficult to keep the windows" clean through which is directed the beam of radiant energy during inspection, and generally causing a sort of "rain" in front of the photo cell equipment.

Extensive experimentation has developed the fact that there is a gradient in centrifugal drying of bottles. a'drop of water on any particular point of the exterior surface being removed as the speed of rotation exceeds a certain value, the location of the water determining and marking this critical speed. For example, certain drops will remain on the bottle at 1200 R. P. M., which unfortunately is a desirable inspection speedwhereas the same drops will have been removed by the time they encounter a speed of 2000 R. P. M. By setting the speed of pro-spinning above the speed of the whirling for inspection,

' practically all of the water may be thereby elimi- 4 hated, and greatly improved results in inspection thereby procured. Hence the desirability of first subjecting the container to the higher speed before entering upon the actual inspection process, is at once evident. The graph of water removal versus speed follows a logarithmic curve.

'aeeaoaa Iciaim:

The method or treating and inspecting a bottle and its content oi freshly charged beverage mixture which comprises, rotating such bottle about its longitudinal axis at a speed of approximately 2000 R. P. M. to eflect the removal of moisture from the exterior suriaoe thereof and to bring about more thorough mixture of its contents, abruptly checking such rotation, again rotating such bottle about its longitudinal axis at a reduced speed oi! approximately 1200 R. P. M. and inspecting the bottle and contenta by passing a beam 0! radiant energy therethrough while the bottle is rotating at such reduced speed.

nmnaucas 01m The following references are oi record in the iile of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Weathers 30, 1941 GEORGE PHILIP STOUT. u 

